The present invention relates to a liquid container for holding liquid such as ink, and an ink jet recording apparatus in which the liquid container is mountable.
Recording apparatuses capable of functioning as a printer, a copying machine, a facsimileing machine, or the like, and recording apparatuses used as an output device for a multifunctional electronic device or work station inclusive of a computer, a wordprocessor, etc., are structured for recording images (inclusive of characters, symbols, etc.,) on recording medium (member on which image is recorded), for example, paper, fabric, plastic sheet, OHP, and the like, based on recording information. Recording apparatuses can be classified into an ink jet group, a wire-dot group, a thermal group, a laser beam group, etc.
Among these various types of recording apparatuses, recording apparatuses of an ink jet type (which hereinafter will be referred to as ink jet recording apparatuses) record images by ejecting ink onto recording medium from their recording means. Thus, they enjoy various advantages. For example, their recording means can be easily made compact, and they are capable of recording a highly precise image at a high speed. They are capable of recording on ordinary paper without requiring the ordinary paper to be specially treated, and are low in operational cost. Further, they are of a non-impact type, being therefore low in noise. Moreover, color images can be easily recorded with the use of a combination of ink jet recording means and a plurality of inks different in color (for example, color inks).
It is true that ink jet recording apparatuses require recording medium (member on which image is recorded) to meet certain conditions in terms of material. In recent years, however, the advancement in the ink jet technologies made it possible to use an ink jet recording apparatus to record images on fabric, leather, non-woven fabric, metal, etc., in addition to paper (inclusive of thin paper and specially treated paper), which is an ordinary recording medium, thin resin plate (OHP), etc.
ink jet recording apparatuses comprise a recording head (ink jet head) having a plurality of microscopic ejection orifices. They record intended images on recording medium (recording paper or the like) by ejecting ink droplets from the microscopic orifices so that the ink droplets land on the recording medium. There are various types of ink jet recording heads. For example, some ink jet heads employ electro-mechanical transducers such as piezoelectric elements as ejection energy generation elements for generating the energy used for ejecting ink from the ejection orifices, whereas the others employ electro-thermal transducers having a heat generating resistive member. In the case of the latter, ink is heated so that ink droplets are ejected from the ejection orifices.
Also in recent years, the advancement in the software and hardware for computers or the like made it necessary for ink jet recording apparatuses to be capable of outputting color images. Thus, it has been made possible for recording heads (ink jet heads) to record in color. Further, the advancement in the software and hardware for computers or the like made it necessary for ink jet recording apparatuses to be capable of outputting highly precise images. Thus, recording heads (ink jet heads) have been further improved in terms of recording density (density of image or characters), and also, in terms of the change in ink contents, making it possible to form even more precise high quality images. As a result, not only have ink jet recording apparatuses come to be used in large cooperation offices by businessmen and computer specialists, but also they have come to be widely used in homes or small offices for personal businesses by ordinary people.
As is evident from the above description, ink jet recording apparatuses are provided with a liquid supplying system (ink supplying system) for supplying a recording means (recording head) with liquid as recording ink. The liquid supplying system is structured so that ink containers for holding ink can be removably connected to the liquid supplying system. More specifically, the ink containers as liquid containers can be removably (exchangeably) mounted in the ink container mounting portion provided in ink jet recording apparatuses.
Regarding ink containers such as those one described above, there have been made various proposals. According to one of the proposal, the ink container (liquid container) used for the ink supplying system of the ink jet recording apparatus is equipped with information storage medium so that various information concerning the ink container can be exchanged between the control circuit of the main assembly of the ink jet recording apparatus and the ink container.
For example, Japanese Laid-open Patent Application 2000-218818 discloses an ink container equipped with a storage element capable of storing information such as the amount of the ink remaining in the ink container, production date of the ink container, expiration data of the ink within the container, etc. Japanese Laid-open Patent Application 10-217809 discloses an ink container equipped with information storage medium, which stores various information, is placed in a recess in the bottom portion of the ink cartridge.
As information storage media for liquid containers such as the above described ink container, however, semiconductor elements are widely used. Therefore, there have been technical problems. For example, even if only a few liquid droplets leak when mounting a liquid container into a recording apparatus or the like, or dismounting it therefrom, the few droplets come into contact with the information storage medium and short-circuit it; in other words, the information storage mediums are likely to be damaged.
Further, the electrodes of the information storage media of the ink containers in accordance with prior arts are exposed, being therefore unprotected from ink droplet adhesion. In addition, exposed information storage media are inconvenient in that they are likely to be mechanically (physically) damaged by the static electricity which occurs when ink containers are handled by users, and due to the adhesion of the sweat which also occurs when ink container are handled by users.
It is true that there have been proposals (Japanese Laid-open Patent Application 10-217509, for example), according to which ink containers in accordance with the prior arts are structured so that the information storage medium is placed in a recess. This structural arrangement for the ink container in accordance with the prior arts definitely reduces the possibility that the information storage medium will be mechanically damaged when the ink container is handled by users. However, if ink leaks even by a minute amount during ink container exchange or the like, the leaked ink is likely to come into contact with the electrodes of the information storage medium, resulting in the same inconvenience as the above described one. In other words, it has been difficult to prevent the above described problems.
The present invention was made in view of the technical problems described above, and its primary object is to provide a liquid container which is equipped with an information storage medium, and is capable of physically protect the information storage medium; is capable of preventing liquid from coming into contact with the information storage medium and connector, even if liquid leaks during the mounting or dismounting of the liquid container, or during the like situations; and is capable of preventing the information storage medium and the components in the adjacencies thereof from becoming damaged due to liquid adhesion.
The present invention is characterized in that in order to accomplish the above described objects, a liquid container comprising: a liquid storage portion having an opening; a liquid outlet portion fixed to the liquid storage portion to draw liquid from the liquid storage portion; and an information storage medium holding portion with which the liquid storage portion is provided to hold an information storage medium for storing the information regarding the liquid container, is structured so that the contact surface of the information storage medium held to the information storage medium holding portion faces toward the liquid outlet portion, and also, so that a space is provided between the contact surface of the information storage medium and the surface of the liquid storage portion.
According to the other characteristic aspects of the present invention, it is preferable that a liquid container in accordance with the present invention is structured so that the space between the contact surface of the information storage medium and the surface of the liquid storage portion constitutes a connector insertion space; the space between the contact surface of the information storage medium and the surface of the liquid storage portion is a recess or cavity provided in the information storage medium holding portion; the information storage medium is solidly fixed to the internal surface of the recess or cavity of the information storage medium holding portion, on the side opposite to the liquid outlet portion; the space between the contact surface of the information storage medium and the surface of the liquid storage portion is enabled to capture liquid; a liquid trapping portion for trapping liquid is provided between the information storage medium holding portion and liquid storage portion; and the information storage medium is positioned higher than the liquid outlet portion, when the liquid container is actually in use.
Another Claim of the present invention is characterized in that an ink jet recording apparatus which records images by ejecting ink onto recording medium from the recording means is provided with a liquid container mounting portion in which a liquid container equipped with an information storage medium structured as described above is mountable.
Therefore, it is possible to provide ink jet recording apparatuses capable of physically protecting an information storage medium; capable of preventing liquid from coming into contact with the information storage medium, even if liquid leaks out of liquid containers during the mounting or dismounting of the liquid containers, or during the like situations; and capable of preventing the information storage medium and the components in the adjacencies thereof from becoming damaged due to liquid adhesion.
These and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent upon consideration of the following description of the preferred embodiments of the present invention, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.